Domain of the Golden Dragon Crossing the Prime Meridian- Part 5

Traveling Back to the United States 

Going the LONG Way

27 Sep 1965 - 23 Oct 1965

Part 5

I am now continuing with my mother’s journal.

Wednesday, 13 Oct 1965 -

We boarded the train in Rome, Italy, at 2050 & we slept on the train the best we could as the train stops at stations, doors of compartment bang open & shut as people are looking for seats.

 Thursday, 14 Oct 1965 -

Daybreak about 6AM. Now we can see something. We ate our breakfast of turkey & salami, hard-boiled eggs, vino, mineral water & pears packed for us at the restaurant last night. Our compartment mates had German-Swiss cheese, rolls & other one cold pizza. Back to the washroom to freshen up. We are in the last car on the train. About 7:30 at Chiasso, Switzerland, a border town, we had our passports checked.  

Eventually, into the Swiss mountains, chalets look down into a fog-covered valley with a village church steeple sticking up out of the fog. 

We arrive in Zurich, Switzerland, at 1520. We wait in front of a candy wagon full of pretty boxes of Swiss chocolates, while Stan & Gib phone hotel & get a cab. We take the taxi to Rothus Hotel, a local pension, which rates #5 out of Europe on $5 A Day. HAHA. According to the book it states, “another big hotel located in the most interesting area of Zurich, the Niederdorf, just a block or two from the river, in the center of the city, but in a quaint, unchanged, medieval section of town, filled with narrow streets for walkers only, statues &    fountains at every small plaza, & packed also with cafes & nightspots of Zurich. The Rothus (whose lobby is one flight up) is above a nightclub, whose activity & noise may disturb, but may delight you. It is a large place with over 100 beds, neat & proper in a clean, woodsy old-fashioned Swiss-style (there are big feather blankets on each bed). The prices are fairly good for high-priced Zurich.” 

The cab drives along the river on the opposite side from the railroad station.  He turns off onto a narrow street with angled buildings. We stop in front of what seems to be a night club. It is downstairs & also across the street. Where is the hotel? Upstairs, no, only a restaurant. Down again. Another man from Spain is also looking for the same

hotel. Up again, ah, behind the curtains on the left. We find a semi-circle desk. Get key, up to the room in an elevator with doors on 2 sides as the floors are split. We enter one door on the vestibule (2nd floor of the building). The 1st floor is really the 4th. We were on the 8th floor in room 401. We are greeted by a heavy set matronly woman. In our large room, there are 3 big single beds. Not fancy, but clean. 2 sinks, a wardrobe, with a table & chairs. We had to share a common bath. Each bed had a big fluffy feather pillow & a feather blanket. We all wanted to fall right into those feathers, but Stan wouldn’t let us. The beds not yet made, but a floor maid came in to do so. We freshened up, then went out to look for a place to eat. We walked down the narrow street to the river passing all kinds of interesting shops. A butcher shop with all kinds of yummy looking wursts, pasty shops, & candy shops, etc. We cross the street to the Limmat River & watch the swans & ducks.

We cross 1/2 way over on the Townhall Bridge or locally called the “Vegetable Bridge.” We watch young boys fishing. We turn back to find the Blockhaus Restaurant to try their cheese fondue. This was also recommended in Europe on $5 A Day  “The Blockhaus Restaurant serves great fondue (melted cheese with wine & Kirsh, lapped up with chunks of bread, the food speciality of Switzerland.” Pretty waitress & a girl bartender. German-style rough decor with dark oak. Stan & I order the fondue. Not so good. Would like it better with kirsch. Served bubbling over a flame in an orange iron pan. Ordered kirsch with it. We still do not like the dish. Live & learn. Children fared better. For 90¢, they had thick barley soup, cauliflower lettuce salad, tasty veal stew with corkscrew noodles. Our bill came to about $6. We also showed the waitress how to make Coca Cola floats. Nice German music & atmosphere. On the way back to the hotel, we passed a 

children’s theatre. We crossed the river & worked our way through the narrow side streets to the Jelmoli Department Store where we each got a pair of gloves & a hood for Mary. The weather is crisp & chilly now. The older Swiss woman dress very plain/tailored, with low flat-heeled oxfords. The younger women were more fashionable. They had big bows on their shoes. This must be the high style now as we noticed this in Italy also. Fur ascots also were worn by many women. Those with hats are older with roll brim styles. No scarves on heads, just me. Looked at toys & sporting goods. Many English speaking clerks. We looked at Marklin trains for Gib’s collection & Alpine hats. Good looking but couldn’t find the price or anyone to tell us. I bought some Swiss chocolates. Browsed in the toy dept. Bought some little dishes for Mary’s Barbie. We crossed the street back to the railroad station to purchase tickets for Munich tomorrow. We walked back to the Pension. We stopped in a coffee shop for pastries & coffee. At the hotel, I did some hand laundry. Called for baths. Toilet down the hall. Could hear pigeons down in court below. When water is drawn, we are called. Mary & I first. Then to bed under the soft warm feather beds. We slept well.

Thursday, 14 Oct 1965 -

Up at 7:30 AM & out from under the feather beds. Dress (clothes still damp), pack up & down to breakfast. German-style dining room occupied by boisterous laughing German-speaking people. Breakfast of coffee, tea, hot milk & crescent & round shaped rolls with butter & jelly (continental breakfast). Rolls more delicate & lighter than Italian. Back to the room for our luggage. Then down to check-out. Cost of room (3 beds-4 of us-2 sinks-no bath in room-3 Continental breakfasts) plus 3 baths & 1 extra breakfast) 43.70 in Swiss francs.

Stan calls a taxi. A boy in green apron takes bags out front. Wait 10 min. for a taxi. To the railroad station by 915, The porter takes bags for 4 francs. At the train station, I buy postcards (10 for 3.50 francs). Buy sandwiches (ham in big rolls), grapes & 2.5 pounds of milk for 7.40 francs for our lunch on the train. Also English peppermints. To platform to wait for the train from Bern, Switzerland, in at 1000.  2nd class. Gib goes aboard first & gets seats. Then Dad sends luggage. This time we all got window seats. Train not cubicle type, open slot luggage racks above seats, large windows. Depart at 1020 for Munich. Winterthur is our first stop & 2 beautiful young blonds got on & sat next to Dad & Gib. They tried to figure out a card game we were playing & whether we were English or Americans. I enjoy the lovely fall scenery. Autumn colors profuse. Pastoral scenes.

Cows, sheep, some cows with different size brass bells. Small villages with church steeples. Every house has neat vegetable and/or flower garden.

Yesterday’s bedding hanging out of windows to air. It’s a hazy day. Areas along the railroad track also neat, clean & tidy as we are riding on electric trains. Even the coal company has bags hanging neatly on lines against the outside wall of buildings. This is similar to my home in Pennsylvania. The blondes got off at St. Gallen, our 5th stop. Weather crisp & chilly. We are wearing our sweaters, coats, & gloves bought yesterday. Stop at #7 at Rorschach onshore of Upper Lake Constance near the Austrian border. Architecture more German Gothic out of Zurich. (Swiss-German-Italian languages) Lace curtains (saw some drying over bushes) at windows. Flower boxes at windows, mostly geraniums. Tomato plants covered with plastic. Chrysanthemums in bloom of many colors. #8 stop is St. Margrethen on the Austrian border at noon. Customs inspectors come by in their green jackets & visor caps look at our passports. We pass a big expressway system.

Another inspector comes by to speak to us. Stan told him that we were American, he then came to me across the aisle to tell me in German that they were American so I said with my hands that we were together. His hand flew to head, then with a big smile saluted us. He left. Then at Bregenz, near lake again (upper Lake Constance). Yacht marina & swans. Rows of very tiny one-door houses surrounded by gardens. Eat lunch we bought this morning at a buffet counter in Zurich railroad station. Ham on soft rolls, grapes, milk. 

We crossed the Austrian/German border. At Lindau, we were back out of the station & surrounded by apple orchards with trees heavily laden with red fruit. Then beautiful farm country interspersed by wooded areas of tall evergreens. We passed Immarstadt where I saw an old man with a beard standing by the track in Alpine style clothes. There were 3 rail busses together waiting for customers. Next stop Kempten. An elderly woman sat next to me. We tried to speak to each other. Everyone gets a kick out of Mary talking to her doll. The next stops are Kaufbeuren & Buchloe. 

We arrive in Munich at about 3:30 PM. Stan checks bags, exchanges money, & buys tickets to Heidelberg. We walk to Pension Hella, a block away, as recommended by $5 A Day. "The cheapest way to live in Munich is to seek out its many pensions. which turn out to be large apartments occupying one or two floors of an apartment house or a large 2-family home. Although many of these lack elevators, they are remarkable, comfy, homey, old-fashioned places with a German ‘hausfraus’ or housewife as their proprietress. They rarely charge more than $2 a person!"  At the Pension Hella, there are street repairs in front. We find the big wooden door. We enter into a concrete tunnel with a stone floor. Very dark. Find the light switch. Steep rickety stairs at end of the tunnel & climb up 2 flights of stairs. Very dismal & dreary. We find a sexy-looking brunette in black stretch pants. We ask for a room. She has to call the owner. We have to wait until she makes up the beds. Torn linoleum on floors. Filthy court down below. Musty smelling. Up another flight to our rooms. I ask about baths. The attendant does not know. She tells us that the owner will be here later tonight. The room is about 30 DM (Deutsche Marks) per night. Our room is a very large room with a small room off to the side. The toilet in the hall is filthy. We don’t like it, but we’ll take it. I ask about where to have laundry done & she is no help. Forget it. We freshen up & are out the door & turn left at the corner. We pass a yummy pastry shop & a few doors down we find laundry & dry cleaner!  I attempt to get information. The owner says, “Yes to express.” So Gib & I run back to the room for clothes to sort & list. When we get back they tell us it can’t be done. Misunderstanding due to lack of language. In situations like this, they go running around the neighborhood looking for someone who speaks/understands English. The old man here tried. He could speak but could not understand us. We decided to keep on walking. They suggested we go to the one at the railroad station. Long walk. We go looking in shop windows on the way. Gib is carrying the heavy laundry bag. Passed movie house advertising a Don Camillo movie with Fernandel; but, shucks, not tonight. Looks like Don Camillo in Russian. At the railroad station, we find a dry cleaner which is just across from where we checked our other bags. They took our shirts & trousers (had to be dry-cleaned) but not the underwear. Told us about a self-service “washateria.” Decide not to bother tonight. We go right out from the station on Bayerstrasse & turn into Sounenstrause where we went into Lowenbran for dinner. Stand up service at the entrance. Front rooms have tablecloths. Back further in the rear bar area - no covers. We took a table there. There was a big semi-circular bar with a beer barrel behind. We watch the bartender change the barrel. Stan & I each have a huge stein of beer. Order “schwien met kraut” & "knudel mit sauce” (Roast pork with kraut & potato dumpling with tomato sauce). The dumpling was the size of a baseball. Kraut was mushy. I don’t like the flavor, as it does not taste as well as mom makes it. Tomato sauce spoils it. Waitress mostly middle-aged wearing a black dress with a rose print. The younger ones were in a dirndl, a German traditional dress. Gib had ham & kraut. Dad had roast beef. We hear brawls from the beer hall upstairs. After eating, we went upstairs to check it out. Huge hall. Band in the stand in the center of the room. Players in green shorts & suspenders. We stand by door & watch. Waitresses pass by carrying 6 big steins in each hand, some carelessly sloshing the beer. No children in the whole place except ours; none allowed in the beer hall. We start to walk back to the hotel, tired so we take a cab back to Pensione Hella. The big door was locked. We knock. Someone on the other side yells back in German & we knock & they yell, etc. Finally, Gib sees a button & presses it which unlocks the door. He was trying to get out & we in. The hall was pitch black, feel for light switch & then find our way up to the 4th floor in dim lights. So depressing. Hurry to bed to pass night quickly.

Friday, 15 Oct 1965 -

Up & out of that horrible place by 830. We went into the Kondetosea for pastry & coffee for our breakfast, a pastry shop nearby. We chose an assortment of 8 different pastries & divide them so each can have a taste of everything. Gib is still carrying the dirty laundry. So we get our directional bearings & walk toward the station which we pass & follow directions to find the washateria. We finally find it to work on our laundry. We pass the Hotel Pension Ancora on the same street as the washateria. We check it out, find it is run by a wonderful Turkish couple & decide to stay here for the night. 

 We go back to Pension Hella & check out. After details are done with the Hotel Pension Ancora & clean laundry put away, we go out to visit Munich. We walk to the Marienplatz, or St. Mary’s Square, to see the famous Rathaus-Glockenspiel or the new Town Hall Clock built

Postcard mom bought & did not send.

in 1908. At noon, the clock chimes & tells two stories from the 16th century. This lasts about 15  minutes long. At the end, the rooster at the top chirps quietly 3 times. We visit the Deutsches Museum in the afternoon.

Deutsches Museum postcard

We walked along the Isar River & pass the Friedensengel or the Angel of Peace which was erected in 1899 celebrating 25 years of peace in Germany (1875-1899).   

Saturday, 16 Oct 1965 -

Up at 7AM. All took cold showers in the shower stall in our room. Across the hall was the toilet. Sink in our room. Pack, dress & outside to look for pastry & coffee for breakfast. Found one around the corner toward the railroad station. Very tidy. Delicious looking pastries & candies. There were blueprint glass-covered tablecloths on their tables. We choose assorted pastries & divided them between us. Coffee & hot chocolate. Bought assorted cookies for lunch. Then on to the Platz, a big toy store. I ran into a hat shop, but Alpine hat for D.M. 9.50 ($2.20) was a child’s hat. Ladies’ hats too expensive, so I didn’t get any. Joined others in the toy shop. Gib bought some MÄRKLIN train cars. (2 for DM 16 = $4). Mary & I look at dolls & dollhouses & furniture. Fabulous miniature assortments & styles. They even had a little schoolhouse with playground equipment. There were 2 nuns buying quite a bit for an orphanage.  I found little dishes for Barbie ($1.00), a tiny baby doll DM 1.50=38¢) for Mary to play with on train & German boy & girl dolls, 5 inches for her collection @ DM 12.50=$3.25). 

Lodging & meals cheap in Munich, but material things are expensive. They mixed up our purchase in the toy store as every purchase is sent to a big purchase &  wrapping counter. They had the wrong doll in our basket, I ran back to exchange it but had to run back again as it belonged to someone else. From there, Stan & Gib walked back to Pension Ancora for our bags to check out, while Mary & I went over to the Hauptbahnhof railroad station via another street. We stopped in a hat shop & got a brush & medal for Dad’s Alpine hat. 

Then we went to the railroad station laundry & dry cleaning to pick up our clean clothes that came to DM 22. I did not have enough so we went to the exchange office. Very busy. Took me about 20 minutes & when I got back to the dry cleaners Stan & Gib were already there. I thought we might be able to make the 1018 train, but we were too late by the time we got the rest of our bags checked out of the Hondgespack (baggage check room). We then put the clean clothes in the bags & to platform 15. Our train came in about 1130 & Gib ran aboard to get seats. We took the luggage on & left the children to write postcards while Stan & I went for more DMs, postcards, stamps & lunch. Stan had picked up some grapes, so I got some milk, round hard rolls, &  some wurst for sandwiches. I dashed around the corner for big yellow pears. On the way back to train, I spied some apfelstaf (apple cider) on one of the rolling buffets & just had to have some. Since taking one’s lunch on the train is common, the stations are well prepared, even have special bags to carry it in. A large group of young Italian men took up the car in front of us. Each carrying one large suitcase & numerous bags of salamis & loaves of bread, etc. We departed Munich with 2 women in our 6 seat compartment (2nd class) Compartment has 

2 tiny pull up shelves under each window. Jump seats in the aisle. No smoking. Have to go into the aisle for a smoke. 1st stop Augsburg. Had our lunch. 2 ladies got off & one got on. 2nd stop. Ulm. Lady got off. A young man got in our compartment. Raining in Ulm.  Stuttgart at 2PM. Industrial town. The young man got off. We ate our grapes. A young couple got on. Bruchsal was our next stop. We arrive in Heidelberg at 1530. We checked in at the Hotel Central near the railroad station. We attended a local carnival in the evening. How far superior than ours, & a perfectly delightful experience!

Sunday, 17 Oct 1965 - 

Mom left this day blank. I know she intended to fill this in at a later time. I fill in our itinerary using photos, letters, ephemera & the internet.

We chanced upon a Sunday morning ceremony by fox hunters prior to taking up the chase. We explored this great city along with sampling the confectionary goodies & bakeshops.

We toured the Heidelberg Castle on the Neckar River that flows into the Rhine River. Mom takes a picture of a local doing the same taking pictures of my father, my brother & me. Is that with dad’s movie camera? I need to see that film again.

Neckar River viewed looking down from the Castle Hill. 

Another photo was taken from walking uphill to the entrance of Heidelberg Castle, seeing the original ruins built in the Renaissance era. 

The castle went through many natural & man-made destructions & has been rebuilt through the past 8 centuries. 




Martha finds postcards in town. Back in the hotel, we all write postcards to family & friends.

Monday, 18 Oct 1965 -

Martha continues in her journal.

Up at 7AM. Dress & pack up. Check out. Walk across the square from Central Hotel to Haupttionhaf Railroad Station. Very modern. But not the variety of shops & buffets as in Munich & Zurich. I put postcards in the mailbox & gave our film to Sgt. in the U.S. waiting room at the far end of station. (Americans gave the undeveloped film to a U.S. military room at local railroad stations if there was a U.S. base in that city to be mailed to a known address of a home U.S. military base.) 

This travel adventure continues in my next blog post as we move on to Amsterdam in Holland or the Netherlands.